Look Up
by Tramontate Stelle
Summary: Only one more year until Helga is 18 and in the clear. But when Arnold figures out the family secret she's been guarding, will he accidentally ruin her escape plans?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Things you should know: This is my first ff. Anything in italics are thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold

Chapter 1

_This already feels like a bad idea._

Before she could change her mind, the front door of the mansion flew open.

"Well, well, well. Look who's decided to finally grace us with her presence."

"Shut it princess, before I impale you with your own Spumoni stilettos."

"Come now, is that really any way to speak to your temporary best friend?"

Helga rolled her eyes. It had been exactly 8 months since Phoebe had boarded a flight to Japan to embark on a year-long journey as an exchange student. And it had been exactly 8 months since Rhonda Wellington Lloyd declared it her civic duty to takeover the social needs of her favorite pink menace.

"Hey Pataki." Sid smiled, walking over to greet her with a hug. "Thought you were dead. Haven't seen you here in a while."

"That's because I'm a busy woman."

"Yeah I'm sure it's real time consuming keeping that caterpillar groomed," Harold shouted from the kitchen as he struggled to balance four Yahoo sodas in his enormous bear hands. He entered the parlor and tossed two of the drinks across the room to Sid and Helga, then plopped down on the couch to cozy up with Big Patty.

Helga caught the drink mid-air and suggestively wiggled her two, distinctly separate eyebrows at him. "I think you mean caterpillars-sss. Emphasis on the S. But I doubt it's as time consuming as-OW! WHAT THE F..." Her witty comeback was cut short by a headlock from behind.

"Fork over the goods Pataki," her attacker demanded.

"Let. Me. Go. GER-ALD!" She clawed at the muscular forearm playfully cutting off her air supply. No luck. _Guess I'm going vampire on this idiot._ As expected, he released her the moment he felt her teeth sinking in.

"I don't think Phoebe would appreciate you putting your mouth on her Dark Knight," he smirked as he rubbed at his fresh wound.

"I don't think she'd appreciate reading your obituary tomorrow either." Helga looked up at her best friend's boyfriend and gave him her signature scowl, but it quickly dissolved into a grin. All the years Helga and Gerald were forced to tolerate each other for Phoebe's sake had somehow transformed their animosity into friendship. Not a terribly surprising development, considering the entire PS 118 gang had become unconventionally tight-knit over the past 7 years.

She threw off her sandals and headed towards the couch to snag the other seat beside Patty. Before she sat down, she dug out an envelope from her back pocket and tossed it at Gerald's feet. "Here, fetch."

Gerald scuttled like Golem to snatch up the precious letter. Phoebe was studying with a family in an isolated village, completely cut off from technology. Her only way to communicate with the group was the good old postal service. And currently all her letters to Gerald were arriving through Helga. Phoebe would've sent them directly to his home had there not been an incident a few months back involving some rather intimate material falling into the hands of the merciless Jamie-O.

Gerald paused before tearing open his treasure, remembering why he had come into the room in the first place. "By the way Rhonda, I just saw Sheena and Nadine trying to pull Curly down from that fancy ass chandelier in the other room. You might want to check that out."

"WHAT? THAT IS AN IRREPLACEABLE 1941 GLASSMAN ORIGINAL FROM GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER REGINALD. SO HELP ME GOD, THADDEUS GAMMELTHORPE, YOU BETTER BE FU..." Her voice trailed off as she stormed towards the dining hall. The group in the parlor grew silent in order to get a better listen to the harpy-esque screams followed by a maniacal laughter and the inevitable shattering of a priceless heirloom into 9000 baby crystals.

_Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come here after all. I've missed the weekly chaos ..._

A couple years ago, when they were all freshmen, Rhonda had started throwing weekly parties and inviting the entire school. The parties always left her home a disaster - vomit-soaked carpets, used condoms in every room, and thousands of dollars lost in stolen jewelry. Eventually her friends grew concerned and began begging her to stop enabling the mayhem. But for whatever reason Rhonda continued to host the parties. At first it seemed like the reason had to do with some ridiculous ploy to remain at the top of the social ladder, but it slowly became obvious to her closest friends that Rhonda was simply the worst sort of lonely. Her parents ventured around the world for business 330 days a year, leaving her to wander a 9000 square ft, 32 room mansion alone.

Over time, Nadine quietly made the group aware of the depths of Rhonda's depression. None of them wanted Rhonda to fill her familial void with a moshpit of reckless strangers. So it was unanimously agreed upon that they would take care of Rhonda by turning her home into the unofficial group hangout. Nearly every day of the week you could find three or four of the PS 118 bunch there - studying, watching TV, napping, cooking, anything. They didn't need to ask her permission, they simply showed up, let themselves in, and did as they pleased. Under any other circumstances, this sort of behavior might be deemed rude. But it was exactly what Rhonda wanted. And needed. She may never have openly admitted she was lonely or that she was grateful for the company, but she immediately ceased hosting her weekly ragers. And they all knew that was her way of saying thanks.

Now, contrary to popular belief, Helga liked Rhonda. And Helga had been more than happy to contribute her fair share of time to Operation: Keep Rhonda Company during their entire sophomore year. But the last few months Helga hadn't been able to hang out at the Lloyd lounge because she had her own problems to tend to... problems that she didn't need anyone finding out about. And unlike Rhonda, Helga didn't want anyone butting into her life and imposing themselves on her with their good intentions.

Helga felt her stomach rumble. She turned to Patty. "Hey I'm gonna go raid the princess' pantry for some finger sandwiches, want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good, Harold and I went out to Slausen's for our anniversary before we got here. Thanks though."

Helga looked over at Harold. "You took her to Slausen's? For your anniversary? C'mon pink boy, we all know how much Mr. Green overpays you, stop being a cheap ass and treat your lady to a real dinner."

"But she loves Slausen's!"

Helga lifted a questioning eyebrow at Patty. Patty shrugged in response, as if to say _boys are dense, what can you do about it? _Helga sighed. _Boys ARE dense._ She knew that firsthand.

In the kitchen, Helga was humming the latest Ronnie Matthew's hit and searching the fridge when she heard someone walk in behind her. She froze.

"Hi Helga."

There it was, the angelic voice she had been hoping to avoid. She didn't need to turn around to know its source. _God damnit, I thought he had date night. _She slowly closed the refrigerator door and replied without turning around, "What are you doing here football head? I thought Thursdays were your night to serenade the petticoats off of Lila with your saxophone or something."

"Her dad wanted to take a long weekend to go visit the farm."

_Don't turn around, don't turn around, don't do it...must... resist... _She turned around.

He was leaning up against the door frame, brushing his disheveled cornflower hair out of his face, smiling with that intoxicating half-lidded gaze. It took every ounce of her willpower not to swoon._ Why must you be so gorgeous. And smell so delicious and...No. Stop. Okay Helga, compose yourself. NOW._ "That's rough buddy. Guess you'll have to wait a whole week to add another tally to the 'failed-attempts-to-get-laid' board." _Nice recovery._

"I think I'll be waiting a lot longer than that. We just broke up."

Her jaw dropped.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry in advance if this chapter is hard to follow, I have a lot of backstory I need to flashback to and I haven't found an ideal format for doing that yet. Hopefully it's somewhat clear, but let me know if it's not.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold!_

Chapter 2

"Why?"

"You know exactly why."

"No, actually, I don't. I thought you two were peachy keen."

"Cut the jokes. You know damn well we never should've been together to begin with." He hardened his expression in a very un-Arnold like fashion. "I only went out with her because of you."

Helga began to squirm uncomfortably as she scanned the room for an exit. "Geez football head, you act like I forced her on you."

"Because that's exactly what you did!"

Helga laughed awkwardly. _Well, that's true. _She thought back to that day, three months ago...

* * *

It was the first week of summer vacation and she had spent her entire morning settling matters with Big Bob about her future. It had taken Bob a solid four hours to iron out all the details of their new arrangement, so she was over an hour late to meet Arnold. Luckily when she arrived he was still waiting in their spot, asleep beneath the shade of Mighty Pete.

She nudged him awake with her foot. "Hey slug, wake up."

He smiled sleepily up at her and then looked at his watch. "Everything alright?" he asked, stretching out his limbs.

"Yeah sorry, you know, just stupid family stuff. Big Bob couldn't find the remote, same old shit bla bla bla." She laid down in the grass next to him.

"Oh." He didn't believe her, but he knew better than to pry into her family matters. She'd been strangely evasive and sensitive about inquiries of her home life lately, and he didn't feel like setting her off on such a beautiful day.

They both stared silently up at the clouds for a while. She closed her eyes and emptied her mind. She could hear music somewhere far off from the Jolly Olly man's truck and the sound of children screaming as they chased after him. She smiled, feeling nostalgic. _Why can't this be the rest of my life? Just laying here under the sun with the boy I've always loved._

_Because life isn't supposed to be perfect, that's why. _The feeling of dread she'd been burying all morning finally took root deep in her stomach. The reality of it all was sinking in. _How am I going to do this? _A small part of her wanted to spill her secret, and let him fix everything in that Arnold way of his. But a bigger part of her knew that was impossible. And she loved him far too much to burden him with unsolvable problems.

Arnold broke the silence first. "You know, the cheese festival is coming up next week." Helga felt his gaze shift from the clouds to her profile.

She turned her head sideways to look back at him, letting the prickly grass graze her cheeks. Something was off about his expression. _He looks... nervous? That's weird. _"Oh yeah? Are you letting me know so I can draw up a sabotage scheme in advance? Because I'll have you know, my stalk-Arnold-and-ruin-his-dates-at-the-cheese-festival days are over. I'm old and retired. And the cheese festival is stupid."

"Ha, no. Sadly, I don't have any dates for you to sabotage this year." He pulled a pen from his pocket and began drawing a block of cheese on Helga's arm. She flinched at his touch and looked back up at the clouds in an attempt to conceal her pleasure.

"That's shocking. I suppose if you're real desperate for a date, I could get old Lila to give you another shot."

He rolled his eyes at the joke and kept drawing on her arm. She saw him pick a dandelion and use the top of it to color in the tattoo. Helga knew Arnold's flame for Lila had died in 5th grade, but she still enjoyed giving him a hard time about it. "No thank you. I'm pretty sure Lila Sawyer does not want to go on any more dates with me after puking her brains out and almost drowning in a swan boat." He started to sit up, and began fidgeting with the remains of the dandelion. "You know, I bet you wouldn't think the cheese festival was stupid if you spent it _on _a date instead of sabotaging one."

_"_Well doi. But who would I go w..." Helga looked down at her arm to see the completed drawing. Next to the cheese now stood two stick people with yellow hair holding hands. And one of those people was sporting pigtails and a scowl. Suddenly it all clicked._ Oh god, wait a minute... is he… is he trying to ask me out? NOW? Now he takes a hint? Right on the exact day when my entire life has gone to shit? What am I thinking, of course it's now. Because the universe hates me._

But just then she noticed a certain perky redhead jogging up the road. _Speak of the devil._ _Okay, maybe the universe doesn't completely hate me... it only slightly hates me. _Within 10 seconds Helga began formulating an escape plan.

"Lila!" Helga shouted, as she stood up and beckoned the girl towards them before the conversation went any further. Helga pretended not to notice Arnold's irritation at the interruption.

"Well good morning Helga, Arnold!" Lila greeted with her typical nauseating cheer.

Helga returned a fake smile and cringed inside at what she was about to do. "Hey. Arnold here was just reminding me of our good ol' PS 118 days. You remember the cheese festival don't you?"

"Why yes, of course I do, that was when Arnold and I-"

"- Yeah, yeah, yeah, great, you remember. Swell. Anyways, he was just telling me how much he hated himself for that little disaster date you two went on all those years ago. I mean, it sounded to me like he really wishes he could have a do-over. But of course, being a total wimp, he's way too shy to ask you out, since you rejected him so much as a kid. And wouldn't you know, right as you were coming by I was just about to say to him, 'Geez Arnold, we're not 10 anymore, I'm sure Lila doesn't still think you're a lumpy sack of potatoes.' "

Lila turned beet red. "Well, I'm ever so certain I never thought that he was a sack of -"

"- I know that's what I kept trying to tell him! You like him, he likes you, so why beat around the bush? When two saps _obviously_ like each other, they shouldn't let their fear of rejection keep them apart." _Ugh, poor choice of words. _"So whatdoyasay Sawyer? Wanna go out with my boy Arnold here?"

Lila blushed. Helga knew the answer. Thanks to Rhonda's enormous mouth, the whole group knew that Lila had been crushing hard on Arnold for at least a year. In fact, most girls in their grade has taken notice of him now that he'd sprouted up two feet and matured in all the right ways.

"Really Arnold? You want to go out with me?" Lila looked like Bambi on a Christmas morning. _I think I'm going to be sick._

"I... uh..." Arnold was at a loss for words. He shot a look at Helga. A look of confusion. And anger. And disappointment. And devastation. He was desperate to find some sort of explanation in her facial expression but all he got was a blank smile.

Helga went on, "Hahaha he always get so speechless around girls he likes. You'd think he was still 10. But hey, I better head home, got some chores to do, and you know how Big Bob gets. Such a hothead. See ya around Arnold-o. Bye Lila. Have fun on your date, you two lovebirds!"

_Sorry football head, but I just can't have you around right now. _She quickly turned and ran up the road without looking back.

The rest of the week was spent putting her plan into motion. First she 'broke her phone' so that she had a valid excuse for ignoring his calls and texts. Then she had Sid inform everyone that she was moving across town to live with her dad. It was somewhat common knowledge that Mr. and Mrs. Pataki had split up a few years ago, although Helga never mentioned it to anyone so not much else was known on the matter. She didn't disclose the location of her supposed new home, which meant that Arnold couldn't drop by her house unexpectedly. Then she got a job as a summer camp counselor out of town so her absence from group hangouts wouldn't seem suspicious. Plus she desperately needed the money.

* * *

"Okay, so maybe I did force her on you. But I didn't make you _stay _with her for THREE months."

"No, you're right. You just avoided me for three months instead," he replied bitterly.

Arnold continued on with his defense, "And I didn't want to stay with her all summer... but I never got a chance to break up with her - she made sure we never had a private moment together just to talk. She was always having us go on double dates or inviting me over to family dinners or shoving fresh baked cookies down my throat. It was almost like she _knew _I wanted to break up with her," he paused to make an accusatory face at Helga."I'd have had an easier time murdering puppies."

Helga choked back a laugh. She knew that was all true. In fact, she had been counting on it. Helga had used Rhonda to get into Lila's head, telling her there was a rumor going around that Arnold wanted to end things. And Helga knew that Lila, having wanted Arnold as her boyfriend for so long, would go to any lengths to prevent this from happening. Helga was actually shocked he had managed to break up with her this soon. Clearly she had given Lila too much credit. "If she was the nicest girl in the world, I don't see what the problem was."

"I never wanted to date the nicest girl in the world. I wanted to date -"

Helga knew where this was going. She cut him off, "Did you tell anyone else about your breakup yet?"

"I - No, you're the first. What does that matter right now? I'm trying to talk to you. I know you might have forgotten what that looks like, since you've successfully avoided me an entire season."

"Since when did you become the one with the jokes?"

"Stop. Look, I just want to be friends again. And if you don't want to be my friend anymore, then I at least deserve to know why." He took another step towards her. She took another step back.

She tried her best to remain unaffected. "Oh quit being dramatic football head, we're still friends. You didn't do anything." He continued closing the gap between them. And she continued backing up. Until she hit the kitchen counter. _Shit._

He sighed in frustration, looking sincerely defeated."Helga, if you ever had an ounce of respect for me, you'd at least admit you've been avoiding me. And tell me what the hell I did wrong. You don't go from seeing someone every day to no contact in three months." He was standing uncomfortably close now.

"Look, I see where you might have gotten the impression that I've been 'avoiding you' or whatever. But really, I've just been busy. You know, I had that job all summer, I was out of town every Monday through Friday."

He wasn't buying it but he didn't know what else to say. He was staring at her straight in the eyes, standing close enough for her to catch the scent of cut grass and late summer off his perfectly crafted body. "If that's the story you're sticking with, then fine. I'll take a hint." He was finished talking but he continued to stare at her, eyes pleading for answers.

She felt her heart shatter into a million tiny pieces. _God damn you Arnold and your beautiful, pathetically sad face. _"Criminy." Helga smacked herself mentally, _I'm going to regret this_. "Okay, you're right, maybe I was avoiding you." He perked up attentively. _Lie to him Helga. _"But I just can't stand being near Lila, I mean, you know I've never really liked her. And it turns out she's extra obnoxious (if that's even possible) when she's all happy in love. So, if you want an explanation, I was really just avoiding Lila, so I guess I was inadvertently avoiding you too." _Hmm, that story is believable enough. _

He looked at her suspiciously. "But," he started to raise his voice, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO..."

"...YES, yes I know, I'm the one who pushed you to go out with her. No need to keep reminding me. Okay, I don't know what I was thinking. I knew she liked you, I thought you liked her, I figured I was doing you a favor. Plus I was going to be busy with work all summer and I didn't need you being all lonely and mopey without me okay?" _That's partially true._

"Wait. You thought I liked her? Why... What the hell made you think that?"

"I dunno, why _wouldn't _you like her. You're both baby-saving do-gooders. You were made for each other."

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And that still doesn't explain why, or how, you dropped off the face of the planet."

She sighed. She was failing miserably, all her excuses were full of holes. She needed to collect her thoughts but she couldn't do it with him standing so intoxicatingly close, smelling so god damn wonderful. "Look, if you drop this right now and stop asking questions, I promise we can go back to the way things were before. Deal?" _I wasn't going to be able to avoid him when school starts next week anyways, so I might as well start working on a new plan. At least I kept him from finding out my secret for three months... only nine more to go._

His frown was replaced with a skeptical grin. "Okay. So I'll see you Saturday morning then?"

"Sure, fine whatever. Listen, I've gotta head home and finish up my AP English summerwork that I've been putting off. Which means this little guilt fest is over. Later Arnoldo," she pushed him out of her way and bolted out of the kitchen.

"Seeya Rhonda, Gerald, Helga, Patty, Sid," Helga hastily yelled as she ran across the parlor. _Almost to the front door...just a few more feet..._

"HELGA! Wait, let me drive you home." Arnold said, fishing his keys out of his pocket. _Why must you be so adorably persistent?_

"No that's okay, I'm just gonna take the bus. I live way across town now, it's completely out of your way."

"That's alright, I don't have anywhere better to be."

"LISTEN I SAID NO, OKAY? YOU CAN'T."

All eyes shot to Helga. _Shitshitshit, why did I have to yell? Quick Helga, think fast._ She softened her voice, "I mean, you can't… because you have to stay here... and tell everyone... about your breakup with Lila!" That had the exact effect Helga was hoping for. The group collectively shifted their bewildered gaze to Arnold. Rhonda immediately began prying for details while Gerald began complaining that he hadn't been told first. They cornered him like a pack of hyenas. He never stood a chance. _Sorry Arnold, but you left me no choice._

With everyone distracted, Helga picked up her backpack and snuck out the front door.

**A/N: Things should get less confusing as I go on. This story is going to be pretty long so it might take a while to establish all the background history. In general I think I'll be posting up chapters once a week, but I've already got a big chunk of the third one done so I might have that one up in a couple days. I'm also almost done with an illustration for this story, so that will also be posted up as the cover image sometime this week : ) Thanks for all the reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the late update! Went out of town unexpectedly and you can't exactly bring a desktop computer on a plane.**

Chapter 3

_Homefree sucker._ She had made it about 10 feet down Rhonda's excessively long driveway before she heard the door re-open behind her. _Damnit._

"I saw what you did there." _Sid. Thank God._

She stopped walking and turned to face him. "Yeah well, you know me. Master of getaways."

"Yes, I do know you. I also know Arnold. I don't think he's going to appreciate that little stunt."

"He'll get over it. He always does." She turned back around and started walking away, indicating she was finished with the conversation.

Sid ignored the cue and kept talking, "He was pretty broken up all summer." She froze mid-step. "He came around every day asking if anyone had heard from you. The way he was always going on about you, I almost would've sworn _you_ were his girlfriend." Helga flinched from the sudden rush of guilt coursing through her. "Speaking of which, none of us can figure out how Lila managed to finally get her hands on him. Considering how obvious it was he had no interest in her. Quite the mystery."

"Are you going to get to your point anytime soon?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"My point is, the rest of the group might buy your weak-ass excuses for disappearing this summer, but I don't. So whatever stupid reason you have for avoiding him... I really hope it's worth losing the one thing you've wanted your entire life."

She opened her mouth as if to reply, but no words came out. Sid had become the older brother Helga never had and he had no problems telling her when he thought she was being an idiot. Most days she didn't mind his expressed interest in her life just because someone being concerned for her well-being was such a rarity. But today was not one of those days.

He called out one last time after her. "Helga. I'm worried about you."

She began walking away into the quiet city night. "Don't be."

* * *

Back in 8th grade, Sid had sought out a job at Big Bob's Cell Phone Emporium. No one else around town would hire a 13-year-old, but everyone knew that Big Bob was a sucker for savings and would have no qualms about paying a kid under the table if that kid agreed to work below minimum wage.

Sid wasn't the only underpaid minor laboring under Big Bob. Helga was also an employee for her dad. Over the course of two years, Sid witnessed firsthand the mindblowing levels of bullshit Helga had to tolerate every single day of her life. Big Bob never spared a moment in screaming profanities or verbally abusing his own daughter when there were no customers about. Of course, Helga, priding herself on her impenetrably tough exterior, took it all in stride, and tried to make light of the situation in order to ease Sid's apparent discomfort at the way her dad talked to her. But nothing she said could rid him of the sickening feeling he got whenever he heard Bob calling her "Olga." Or the overwhelming feelings of protectiveness he suddenly developed for the former schoolyard bully.

Then one night he found out things were even worse. An extremely intoxicated Miriam Pataki stumbled into the store. It was late and there were no customers around, but Helga still seemed humiliated by the public appearance of the deteriorating woman. Helga tried to hush her drunken mother and drag her into the backroom out of Sid's sight, but Miriam was more than resistant. He couldn't quite make out what was being said through all the tears and screaming, but it sounded like Miriam had run out of some sort of pills and was begging for money from her youngest daughter. And judging from Helga's unphased reaction, this was a common occurrence.

After a pretty violent struggle, Helga was able to coerce her mother into the backroom. Sid creeped close enough to listen. The drunken wailing had ceased and he could hear Helga yelling at Big Bob over the phone. "Jesus Christ Bob, Miriam just busted in here looking for you. She knocked down three displays... yeah, yeah, I know, I got her in the back right now. She's out cold ... ... That's not my job. She's your stupid wife. Come pick her up unless you want her greeting your customers in the morning." Helga unexpectedly threw the backroom door open, smashing it right into Sid's face.

She looked unsympathetically at the eavesdropper on the ground. "Enjoying the show?"

He stood up and rubbed his aching nose. After a few moments of awkward silence, he gave her a hug.

She rolled her eyes. "Criminy. Do I look like a charity case looking for pity hugs? If you really want to do me a favor, you'll fix those displays, stop wearing those tacky ass beatle boots and keep your big mouth shut about whatever it is you think you just saw."

For the most part, that's exactly what he did. Minus the part about the boots. He never brought up the incident again. Ironically, the fact that Sid didn't pry any further about her shoddy life is exactly what led Helga to open up to him. She realized he wasn't going to judge her or run his mouth off to the group, and started feeling like she could trust him. Plus, with Phoebe constantly busy playing girlfriend to Gerald, Helga could use an occasional confidante to discuss her secret lifelong infatuation with ice cream.

* * *

It was Saturday. Helga woke with the sun and headed off to arrive a few hours early. At the base of Mighty Pete she slipped off her flip flops to let her feet take in the damp morning earth before scaling the make shift ladder boards. Inside the treehouse, she slouched down in an old lawn chair and propped her feet up on a lumpy pile of a blankets. "Ugh. What the hell am I going to say to him," she said aloud to herself.

The pile of blankets came to life. "Sorry might be a good place to start."

She screamed and abruptly fell out of her chair. Arnold emerged from beneath the blankets.

"Don't effing do that to me! What the hell are you doing here so early?"

He was rendered speechless by laughter.

She punched him in the arm. The hit did nothing to cease his laughter. She began to rub her backside. "I think I splintered my ass. That wasn't funny."

"Yes it was. And you deserved it after throwing me to the wolves last night."

"Does this make us even then?"

"Ha. Not even close. Rhonda interrogated me for three hours before she let me go home. Maybe if you give me an explanation for where you were all summer, we'll call it even."

"Fine." She took out a yahoo soda from the bag he had brought and drank it silently for a few minutes. _Here goes nothing._ "Do you remember that day when we first came here?"

* * *

It was about a year ago.

She was walking blindly, too upset to notice the world around her. Which explains why she collided with someone as she came around a street corner and wound up flat on her back. _Goddamnit, who in the hell... _She looked around. _Of course, who else._

She quickly tried to conceal her face. But the momentary glance he had caught was enough to realize she'd been crying. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just grand," she snapped. He could tell she had meant the words to come out in a more abrasive tone, but the effects of prolonged crying had left her voice shaky and weak.

"You're not. What happened?" He asked, offering a hand to help her back to her feet.

Helga temporarily adjusted her tone to sound apologetic, "What happened is..." She paused to take his hand. As soon she was back on two feet, she immediately reverted to anger, "...I collided with a nosy football headed buffoon with two left feet who thinks everything is his business."

By this point in time, he was immune to these post-collision insults. "Come on Helga. No one is around, you don't need to be like this right now. Let me help you. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No! You know what I want to do? I want to do nothing. I don't want to think and I don't want to talk. I just want to forget about everyone and everything and do absolutely nothing for the rest of forever."

"Okay."

_Okay? _That response was unexpected.

"Let's do nothing." He gently took her by the hand and sat her down beneath Mighty Pete. She was too emotionally exhausted to protest. Then he laid down in the grass beside her and stared up at the sky. He didn't say a single word. He didn't try to cheer her up or find out what happened. He simply laid beside her in silence and let the whole world melt away. That's how they remained the entire day.

As the sun began to set, Helga decided it was finally time to head home. She smiled somewhat shyly and mumbled thanks as she stood up to leave. Arnold rose to his feet as well, and gave her a small hug. Thankfully she was able to wait until he disappeared around the corner before her heart exploded out of her chest with a girlish squeal.

The following Saturday, Arnold was walking home from the grocery store when he saw Helga lying in the same spot again, looking to be half asleep. He went and sat down beside her, wordlessly opening up his grocery bag and offering her a Yahoo, which she happily snatched and gulped down in 5 seconds. And that's how they began meeting up every Saturday morning beneath Mighty Pete.

Overtime, they started talking at their meet-ups. At first the conversation was simply comprised of jokes about their childhood days. But eventually Helga felt comfortable enough to admit her involvement in a few of her deranged schemes to obtain his affections. She even confessed to being secretly obsessed with him as a girl... but also made sure to emphasize that her Arnold-loving days were "far, far behind her."

When the seasons changed and the weather became too cold to lay outside, they would bring hot chocolate and take refuge in the treehouse that they had stocked with old comforters. They were able to keep up their Saturday morning tradition for an entire year, up until that fateful morning that Lila jogged by.

* * *

"Well, that first Saturday, when we ran into each other and I was looking all pathetic and stupid... it was because of Miriam."

This was the first time Helga had ever mentioned her mother around him in years and he could sense her hesitancy at speaking the name. He gently put an arm around her. She stiffened briefly at his touch but then she unexpectedly leaned her head back into his shoulder. "You probably heard some rumors that old Bob and Miriam split up a couple years ago. He finally got sick of all her drinking I guess. It doesn't really matter, their marriage was never even remotely functional. And the divorce didn't change anything in my life, they both kept on being shitty parents, only now they were shitty in separate houses. Anyways, things were fine. But then Miriam fucked it all up.

Helga took a sip of her drink, and began staring intently out the treehouse window. She felt his arm settle in more comfortably around her shoulder. "I got a call the night before. She had taken the car. I don't know where she was going. I mean, the liquor store was within walking distance and it's not like she had a job. She was doing just fine on the allemony. And I had forbid her to use the car anyways, ever since she backed over our neighbor's mailbox the year before. I even hid the keys every night. I still don't know how she found them... I should've taken them with me. God. I should've done a lot of things. But I didn't. And she got out. Maybe she was going to run away. Or maybe she was just too wasted to even remember she wasn't supposed to drive. I really don't give a damn. She made it, over the state border, but then... you know, she was drunk... she was always drunk." He could see where this was headed. He tightened his grip on her shoulder.

Helga's voice suddenly become very cold. "She killed a man Arnold."

He was without words. "A man. With a family. Dead." When Arnold turned Helga's face around to look at him, he expected to find tears. But instead her eyes were staring off somewhere beyond him with an unforgiving rage. She got very quiet. "He was just going to the grocery store, picking up dinner for his kids. He told them he'd be back in 15 minutes." She seemed so far away now. He didn't know what to do, but suddenly he desperately needed to close the invisible space between them. He kissed her softly on the forehead.

Helga snapped back to reality at the touch of his lips. She almost smiled, but then she remembered why she was speaking. She firmly pushed his arm off of her. "So there's your explanation Arnoldo. That's why I avoided you this summer. She finally went to court, and I had to spend all my off-work weekends driving out of state to deal with the lawyers and the trial and all that garbage. Now you can get off my case for not being around."

That was a complete lie. She hadn't spoken to Miriam in a year. The night Miriam killed that man was the night Helga disowned her mother forever. Helga never called or visited her in the hospital or attended the trial where her mother was found guilty of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide and sentenced to 30 years. As far as Helga G. Pataki was concerned, Miriam was dead.

**A/N: Okay so, Miriam's drinking/crime is not the big secret, it's just more backstory. And no, Helga's not pregnant hahaha, though that would've been an interesting route to go. But I do appreciate all the reviews and predictions, so keep em coming : )**


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